The Regulation of Apoptosis in Animal Cells

Abstract

It has now been established that physiologically controlled cell death is an integral and indispensable component of metazoan life. Normal development necessitates a measured amount of cell deletion as does homeostatic maintenance and protection of the organism from pathogens. The process whereby a cell orchestrates its own destruction is now referred to as apoptosis or programmed cell death (PCD). Apoptosis is a phrase originally employed to denote a collective set of features observed in dying cells (Kerr et al, 1972). These include cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation and membrane blebbing. These visible features reflect an orderly internal process of cellular dismantling, packaging and surface alterations which make the cell recognisable and safely digestible for neighbouring or phagocytic cells. In contrast to necrosis (or pathological cell death), where cell contents are released, apoptosis does not induce an inflammatory response and it is a relatively unobtrusive exit from life.

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